<p>Looking at competitive schools (Davidson, Furman, Wake Forest) and athlete's scores are high but at the lower-end of the schools' average.</p>
<p>Is it worth pursuing these schools or should we aim a bit lower? Student wants to play sports and will probably get offer soon. Good student (APs, etc.) - not talking about a 1.0 football player and Harvard LOL.</p>
<p>You’ll get lots of information from people who know more than I do, but it really depends on the coach/sport/administration. If your child is in the 25th-75th percentiles (even at the low end), it’s absolutely worth looking into. More seasoned veterans than I will also tell you to include some match/safety schools in your search. And of course everyone will tell you an athlete should pick the school he/she wants to go to, not the coach/team. Athletics often do not work out. College is for the education.</p>
<p>Depending on your student’s talent in the sport, these schools are not out of range. Your kid should write to the coaches, look at the times/skill level of members of the teams and see what kind of interest there is. There is an Athletic Recruiting subsection of this forum. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/</a></p>
<p>Two general rules: </p>
<p>The better the athlete, the assistance an athlete can expect to receive, the more admissions help he or she can expect to receive. An All American (top 10 in the sport or so) can expect to receive more help than an All State athlete, and an All State athlete more than an all region athlete. </p>
<p>The revenue sports - men’s football and basketball - and women’s basketball at some places - receive more admission assistance than any other. The schools want to fill those teams with great athletes, and, especially in men’s football and basketball, often have to really bend their admission requirements to do it. Put another way, any top 50 basketball player is going to be admitted to Wake Forest so long as he meets the NCAA clearinghouse minimums - laughably low for serious students - but really difficult for a kid without academic goals or direction. This is not a knock on Wake - Duke and Stanford and everyone else does the same. </p>
<p>Not sure this helps.</p>
<p>Ask the coacches of his sport directly. If they want a student they can usually pull some in with stats in the bottom 25%.</p>
<p>I think Stanford would not take an NCAA minimum but they certainly take kijs for football and basketball well below the average for Stanford. I hear you need around 1100 SAT (MV) and 3.25 GPA to be a candidate fot Stanford football. Well above the NCAA minimum. But that and a very few others are the exceptions in the money sports.</p>
<p>Every school makes exceptions for the truly gifted athlete and the more gifted the athlete, the more likely exceptions will be made, even at schools like Stanford. (One kid I know had to take his SAT’s three times just to pass per NCAA eligibility rules and was admitted to Stanford a few years back.) Most athletes, however, do not fall into that superstar category and must come closer to the school’s admitted student stats in order to secure a spot in the freshman class. And barrons is correct: usually it is the revenue sports who get the most exceptions, although certain Olympic sports also have a wide latitude has far as admissions exceptions go. The best advice I can give athletes is to do well on your SAT’s… a high score for an athlete goes a long way in convincing the admissions committee that the athlete can measure up to the other admitted students and they will overlook a lower GPA faster than an extremely low SAT score.</p>
<p>Coaches are always looking for smart kids who can bring up the team GPA; kids they don’t have to baby sit to attend class; kids who can help their teammates academically. You’d be surprised where the athletes rank on the admissions scale (at least for FB and BB as mam1959 said). But if your Athlete is a golfer (for example) my guess is the Wake team is pretty much at or above the median for the whole school. They (the coaches) do have some pull with admissions too.</p>
<p>Complete the on-line recruiting form but don’t be surprised if they have already completed their recruting for 2010 class. </p>
<p>My advice is to contact the coach at those schools via email and start a dialog.</p>
<p>It depends on the school whether the student will get a boost in admissions. Schools vary widely on which teams are important and what the teams needs are that particular year. It’s also important, very important, that the kid is at the level that he is competitive in the sport at the school.</p>
<p>I know I am repeating myself when I say this, but choose the school, not the sport. In other words, regardless of where your kid “can” get in or who the coach is or how much he loves his sport, choose a school where he will be happy even if he never plays a minute of his sport or ends up leaving the team for one reason or another (injury, illness, lack of interest, poor grades, etc.). The “best” school or “best” coach is not always the best fit for a particular kid.</p>
<p>Definitely consider the fit- including academic. If a student falls into the bottom 25% plus is spending hours at his sport the combination may be too tough. If there is a better academic fit he can likely succeed at the academics as well. I know of someone who went to a tough school for his sport and his mother said he was struggling- the justification was the once-in-a-lifetime olympic training potential, otherwise he never would have gone there. His particular case was that chance for olympics level expertise/ability whereas needing to repeat college semesters elsewhere could be done later. Your son sounds like a better student and should check on those reach schools.</p>